First Day of School - We Have a Kindergartener

Yes it is already time for school here in Arizona. We start a few weeks earlier than most schools. I think it will always seem crazy to me that they go back at what I think is the middle of the summer. I remember going back in mid-September when I was a kid. But we live in a school district that has a modified school round schedule, so we get to enjoy longer spring, fall and winter breaks. When I really think about it the worst part of the summer starts around mid-July, when the monsoon and dust storms pick up and we get hot days and humid disgusting weather. So really the kids don’t want to do anything outside any more than we do. Today was no exception on the weather front. Just plain yucky. But I digress.

Jackson’s pre-school class was moved to a different school, so now Mike has to go across town to drop off Jackson first and then race back to drop Nicholas off before school starts. I took today off to join him.

We started off with a mini photo shoot, with the best that I get in cooperation with pictures. He’s cute anyway!

Showing off his new Super Mario backpack that he picked out…

This was the best we were getting this morning of a shot with both boys in it. But what was cute was Jackson hugging Nicholas and saing “ohhh”. So cute.

Waiting for daddy to pull the car out of the garage.

Jackson wasn’t having the photo shoot with his backpack out front, so we improvised.

Heading off to class at the new school We found out he does not like the new backpack so we may need to revert to the old smaller one for the time being.

In the classroom now and we are happy. Jackson has the same teacher at the new school and she has the class set up almost exactly like the old classroom at the old school, so he was right at home. Good thing we went to meet the teacher night last week. They were running late and we had to get going to get Nicholas to school on time.

By the time we made it to Nicholas’s school it was a madhouse.  We had to park across the street more than a block away and walk him to the play yard. We packed lunch on the first day and were so happy the school allows kids to bring peanut butter in their lunch, since that is all Nicholas will eat. Lunch is really the one thing we worried about most.

All set and we are on our way to school.

We hurried up to wait in the kindergarten playground. It was a bit overwhelming with all the parents in line with the kids. Nicholas was super excited to be there and get his day started. These are some of my favorite pictures of the day!

Finally in the classroom and settled at his desk we said our goodbyes.

We are so proud of how far this little guy has come and we know he is going to have a great time in kindergarten.

We picked Nicholas up after school and it was a little crazy. The kids all come piling out of the school at the same time. We were a little nervous because Nicholas is used to Mike signing him out when he was picked up at pre-school. So we did not want him to be scared if he couldn’t find us. It seemed like forever before we saw him. He was following a teacher out and I got this picture of him, before I got his attention. Our little boy just seems so big to me here.

Nicholas’s teacher is awesome. She called the house tonight to see how he was doing after school and said he had a great day. We believe it. He was in such a great mood when he got home and I was so thankful I took the day off of work so I could share this big day with him.

I realized as I was holding his hand walking into school and leaving this afternoon, that it probably won’t be that far away when he won’t want to hold my hand anymore when we are at school around his friends. That is the only thing that I teared up about today. I was so happy for him and proud of him that I could not stop smiling.

Where Did May Go?

I guess for me intention and reality have not quite aligned. I spent time transitioning my blog and getting it updated posted once and let life take over. What is up with that?

I love this song…I think it is going to be big this year

….I digress

I guess since I was last here we did a few things. We took the boys to Schnepf Farms to pick peaches, Jackson really got into it this year. He was much more cooperative than his big bro!

I spent my Mother’s Day with my 2 best boys. we were working on our backyard so it wasn’t really relaxing.

I

But the results made me happy, even if I had to spend a lot of time at my 2 favorite big box  hardware stores.

We were able to get in the pool by the middle of the month. With the life vest, Jackson now acts like he owns the pool and is giving Nicholas a run for his money. I will be surprised if they aren’t swimming without them by the end of the summer.

We spent Memorial Day Weekend with Mike’s brother’s family. In between pool time there was lots of Apple friendly fun.

Nicholas had a couple of friends birthday party’s over the weekend so we had fun with the 5 year old friends at gymnastics and Peter Piper.

Jackson took over my iPad. The only way to get him to eat was to let him have it at the table. He looked like he was at Starbuck’s.

I took the last day of school off and took the boys to school.  They had a fun last day with Miss Jacci.

We now have a kindergartner. So proud of this dude!

To celebrate we headed to Coldstone for ice cream before cooling off in the pool.

It’s officially summer in the Carr House!

Lot’s of time in the air conditioned house playing the Wii.

Jackson drew this yesterday, it looks like one of the characters in his favorite Nickelodeon show and iPad App from Team Umi Zoomi. Pretty good for a kiddo that needs a little therapy for fine motor skills.

He is so fun.

I finally finished the family room drapes. Love that Jackson was admiring them.

That is our past month. Looking forward to seeing my family and going to an Angels game this month, and hopefully I will very soon paint my bedroom. The boys are in summer camp in the mornings and for the first time since Nicholas was born, Mike has a few hours alone every morning.

Have a great week!

Week in the Life - Saturday

Saturday, July 30 In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Saturday, July 30, 2011

Wake:  5:21 a.m. (thanks Marti)

Sleep:  10:35 p.m.

Weather:  106 degrees with a mid-day storm

Work:  House chores most of the day until 3:00 p.m.

Plan:  Jon & girls coming for the week

Eating:  Subway subs for lunch          

Drinking:  Pomegranate lemonade

Exercising:  Day off

Listening:  Mario Kart on the Wii in the background

Watching:  Tori & Dean on the DVR while scrapping

Feeling:  So hot today and sticky today

Thinking:  Nichols is obsessed with the Wii

Doing:  Organizing my scrap room & the coupon binder; hanging a shelf in the laundry room & new posters in the boys room

Wanting:  To create a “Cool in the Pool” mini album

Needing:  A shower every time I come back inside from the heat

Loving:  Nicholas so excited for his cousins to get here

Week in the Life - Monday & Tuesday

I wasn't going to join the Week in the Life project this week. I decided Monday morning to go for it and just approach it differently than last year. It ends up being the same week I documented last year when I took tons of pictures every day and wrote tons of details. This year, I am taking a cue from Kelly Purkey's class at Big Picture Classes and doing a quick summary of my day, mostly from my perspective with just a few photos.

Monday July 25

Day: Monday, July 25, 2011

Wake: 5:35 a.m.

Sleep: 10:50 p.m.

Weather: 101 degrees

Work: home sick today

Plan: first day of pre-k for Nicholas

Eating: tilapia tacos

Drinking: Landshark beer

Exercising: yoga & stretching – calves very sore

Listening:  quiet house after boys are asleep

Watching:  Tori & Dean re-runs on Oxygen

Feeling:  achy, hot and tired today

Thinking: about losing weight

Doing: setting up school archive boxes from pre-school to 12^th grade for both boys

Wanting:  to purge the excess in the house

Needing:  to get some extra sleep

Loving: the box of memories Dion brought this weekend

Tuesday July 26

Day: Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Wake: 5:35 a.m. - after being licked by Marti

Sleep: 10:30 p.m. - in the family room chair

Weather: 106 degrees

Work: arrived - 9:45 departed – 7:15 home – 7:45

Plan: first day at new preschool for Jackson

Eating: awful Healthy Choice frozen meal for lunch

Drinking: iced tea

Exercising: yoga and stretching

Listening: Mike’s radio station when going to sleep

Watching: Hawaii 5-0 on the dvr

Feeling: so much better than yesterday – back to normal

Thinking: behind. I am too busy at work right today – too many meetings not enough work time.

Doing: volunteer training at Nicholas’s school

Wanting: to get home earlier at night

Needing: preservation spray from Michael’s

Loving: how excited Jackson was after getting his new outfit on for school & taking his 1^st day photo shoot

July 4th Weekend Roundup

We stayed inside for most of the long weekend.  With temperatures like this….

It was not pleasant outside.  And we had some humidity thrown in for fun too. Jackson started eating with a fork this weekend, and picked it up like he had been doing it forever. I definitely have kiddos that do things when they are good and ready and not when I want them to.

Since we stayed inside Jackson spent a lot of time dragging every toy he cold find in his room to every other part of the hosue. Mike beat Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy with Nicholas cheering him along the way. Nicholas hi-jacked my iPad and iPhone and played Angry Birds and ended up figuring out how to look for more games. After we paid for 2 or 3 games I told him he could not have any more that cost money. He figured out which ones were free and would bring me the iPad or phone and say “ Can I play this one? this one “don’t” cost money”. Kids. After a hard afternoon of playing, Jackson crawled in Mike’s lap and fell asleep. He doesn’t look very comfortable to me. On Sunday we did leave the house to go to the church in the morning.  We also went out to a late lunch at the new Coach and Willie’s in downtown Chandler. The food was good, but expensive. It seemed like we were the only one’s brave enough to leave the air conditioning. The restaurant and the streets were pretty empty.

When Nicholas wasn’t playing the iPad, he took over the Wii.  It is funny that something that he didn’t pay a lot of attention to a couple of months ago is now a complete obsession. Last night we got a really bad dust storm that knocked the power out. The Wii wouldn't power back on and we thought it was a gonner. Mike was not looking forward to Nicholas's reaction, but thanks to Google we figured out how to reset the power supply. I don’t even know what this shirt style is all about. LOL! On the 4th, we stayed inside and Mike grilled slider burgers for dinner.  We headed over to our church for fireworks.

We met up with friends, Michelle and Barry, that we hadn’t seen in forever.  Nicholas and their little girl hit it off immediately.

And we ended the night with a bang! Have a great week!

This kid….

Planned to post this Sunday, but we were too busy spending time with this kid….

This kid…

…is a big lovebug

…is obsessed with trains

…can do a US map puzzle

…is enthusiastic about learning

…is curious and inquisitive

…talks about his extended family all the time

….has a mind like a steel trap

…loves to play with his Daddy

…is compassionate and kind

…is a protective big brother

…is sweet to his doggies

…loves to cuddle with his Mama

…is 4!

At his request he had a Thomas party on Saturday…

Nana and Grandpa C and Grandpa R were in attendance for his party…

Dinner was one of his favorites, hot dogs and chips….

presents were opened (that is the US puzzle that he figured out how to do in no time)…

cake was had (no frosting, please, mom)….

Sunday we headed up to North Phoenix to the Adobe Western Railroad where we road the train a couple of times….

Nicholas and Mike spent lots of time inside watching the small trains

and more time outside watching the train that looked like the one we had under the Christmas tree…

I hung out with this guy while he wore himself out running all over the place

and just a little something for Grandpa and Grandma J….

All in all a great birthday weekend.

Christmas, Weekend Round Up and a Turkey

I've been MIA lately, with a lot going on. Last week we received some upsetting family news, and the end of the week was spent processing it.

Work has been crazy lately, we are consolidating our office with our Denver office and everything is moving to our office here in Phoenix. So work life has been busy in interviewing, hiring and planning for this transition. Oh, and it is year end, and I am an accountant.

I have been working a lot of hours lately, and seeing my family less than I would like. But, I know I am lucky that I will still have my job after this transition.

And because of my busy work schedule, at home it is beginning to look....

a lot like.....Christmas.....

(p.s. the picture for the frame is being printed today to go with the Christmas theme)

Yes, we put up our tree and decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving. I have to work the Friday after Turkey Day and we host the meal every year. So several years ago we stopped trying to do it all after Thanksgiving and moved the inside decorating to a week before. I have a few finishing touches to add after a trip to the store, so I will share some more photos soon.

It was sad putting this away.

Turkey does really get the short stick. (Although the Halloween stuff was gone a few

weeks ago).

Friday night this crazy boy....

...crawled out of his bed....twice. He hasn't tried it again. But we did buy a toddler bed over the weekend just in case. Unfortunately the crib tent doesn't work on his style of crib.

Stinker!

Mike put all the trees up last week (yes, all means 3, 5 if you count the small ones in the boys rooms).  On Saturday he took the boys out during the day so I could do all the rest of the decorations. Then Saturday night we all enjoyed the tradition Mike and I have had for years. Munchies and snacks while enjoying our now decorated house.

Sunday we just hung out and rested.  I have picked up the cold that the rest of the family is getting over. So we just laid low...

As we head into the home stretch for my two favorite holidays of the year, our challenge at ScrapTiffany this week was Food/Recipes. So on honor of the big bird I'll be cooking later this week, I featured Turkey My Way.   I have perfected my bird over the past 15 years that I have been the holiday host. And I am pretty proud of it.

I'll give you two of my secrets, a fresh organic turkey and Reynolds Oven Bags. The rest is my secret, ;)

Head over to ScrapTiffany to see what the other designers did.

Just a peek at one of the pictures from our recent photo shoot with Maggie Holmes. We are lucky that she lives nearby. We met Maggie a few weeks ago and late last week picked up our photos.

I'll share some more tomorrow.  Have a great Monday.

Happy November!

We had a very busy and very fun weekend with all the Halloween festivities. I baked pumpkin spice cupcakes and burned sugar cookies on Saturday morning.

We went to the pumpkin patch at Schnepf Farms

And played in the train park at the farm

We decorated the burned sugar cookies. Nicholas likes to decorate but doesn't like to eat cookies with frosting on them. So Mike will eat those, and I set aside the cookies I did not burn for Nicholas to eat, sans frosting.

I carved the pumpkin and Nicholas had a chat with him

The boys dressed up in their costumes

Jackson really didn't like his at first, but he got comfortable as the night wore on

And went trick or treating, we made it through 4 blocks in our neighborhood. One more than last year.

Then came home and checked out our haul (and maybe had a pack or two of M&M's.

This week at ScrapTiffany was a Color Challenge. The colors worked well with my October Mosh Posh kit. The title came from a song they sang on Glee while I was making this page.

Wednesday is my turn at the ScrapTiffany blog and I have something fun to share for fall.

And next week is our Blog Hop at ScrapTiffany. So check back next Monday and Tuesday for some Holiday inspiration and a chance to win some goodies.

Also, the design team at ScrapTiffany was asked to participate in the Hippity Hoppity Blog Hop as well. So check us out next week over on the ScrapTiffany blog.

Have a great Monday!

A Peak at Fall Decorating, Weekend Stuff and ScrapTiffany Monday

It always makes me smile when we open up Nicholas's back pack and find his weekly report with all this happiness and lots of good praise. He loves school and I love to see him doing well. And I guess Mike is picking up on photos I like to have, because he took this one Friday afternoon on his phone and sent it to me.

Mike and I both stayed up late Friday night playing. So we weren't really thrilled when our dog Mandi had an accident and threw up in the bed at 5 a.m. She's been sick and we think the medicine is bothering her tummy. Our poor sweet girl.

The upside is we got out early to do some planting.  The heat this summer has been awful, and our plants suffered. It was still in the 110 range over the weekend. After spending a fortune over the years to keep all kinds of flowering plants in our courtyard, we gave up. We planted Lantana in the pots and at the base of the fountain. I swear those things are like weeds and will grow in any kind of situation, at least they have color. So here's hoping to saving a few bucks at the nursery.

Our little herb garden bit the dust by July too. I planted a new one with some basil, rosemary and cilantro. I'll see how it goes. We also decorated for fall. I love my little scarecrows.

I'll share a few more fall decoration pictures later this week, but here is a glimpse of one arrangement I have around the house.

This week's assignment at ScrapTiffany was to use 4 photos on a page. I tend to use 1 to 2 photos on a page, but I have been trying to use more recently. So this was a good assignment

I cropped down 4 standard 4x6 prints to 4x3.  I put new Recollection's border punch to work. I picked it up at Michael's for $5.50 after the 50% off sale and Friday's 5 hour coupon for 15% off entire purchase. This was my only scrappy purchase that day, since my shopping mission was to find fall decorations.

I also used Studio Calico's Mr. Huey's Mist on the chipboard. I love that navy, and that white I'm pretty smitten with that one too. All 10 colors are a must have whether you like to mist or not (because you will want to after you get your hands on these)!

Check out the rest of the design team's work over at ScrapTiffany today and Friday. Lot's of good stuff.

Check back tomorrow for ScrapTiffany's Tuesday Tutorial. I have a freebie to go along with it.

Weekend Update

Another one bites the dust.

The weekend was filled with down time. We needed it. We had a bit of a rough week last week. We had an appointment for Jackson that was frustrating and we were dealing with the emotions of that. So we needed some down time and took it easy.

We watched silly movies, that did not get good reviews, but provided some laughter...

Mike, Nicholas and I read magazines on the patio....

Finally getting to enjoy a cooler early part of the day....

We played outside...

We ordered pizza, went out for Mexican food and got KFC grilled chicken take out.

We took naps. We (me) had a pedicure/manicure.

Sometimes you just need these things.

I only scrapped for an hour. It was all I wanted to do. I felt like reading, enjoying my family, watching movies, playing with my new camera lens, sleeping, and organizing my photos. I have 2 packages arriving this week with scrappy goodies, so I know I will want to immerse myself in all that pretty paper again next week.

I did have fun with that one hour. I did my ScrapTiffany challenge for the week. However, Tiffany is having a bit of trouble with her internet, so I will have to wait to post my layout until she can get the DT reveal up. Here is a peak for now:

Since I can't share the ScrapTiffany layout yet, here is one I did last week to document Nicholas's thing for blowing me kisses, which of course I love...

Using the Studio Calico Summer Camp kit, EK Success Label, Jumbo Star Border and Martha Stewart Starburst punches.

Hope you have a great week!